Chapter 1 Chapter 1

I opened my eyes to find a shiny knife before me, sending me tumbling back onto the couch in fear. "What's wrong, Lily? Do you want an apple?" my husband, Xavier Henderson, asked. My heart raced—wasn't I dead? Because I kept quiet, Xavier moved closer, still holding the knife. He said, "There's a new coworker who lives in our neighborhood..." I slapped the knife away and frantically inspected my body. And then, realization dawned—I had been reborn! I turned my attention back to the scumbag. Furious, I grabbed a glass of water from the table and splashed it in his face. "Lily! Are you out of your mind?" he shouted, startled. Suppressing my anger, I said flatly, "I had a nightmare. I wanted to see if I was really awake." I knew he was about to bring up his coworker, Sandra Lee, wanting a ride. I said no in my previous life. I bought the car before our marriage, so it was registered in my name. If something were to happen while she was in the car, there would be a lot of problems. I didn't want those problems. As a result, Xavier and I got into a fight. "You're a teacher, Lily! How can you be so selfish?" Eventually, things went horribly wrong—Sandra got pregnant and miscarried in my car... The doctor said it was due to her having intercourse in the early stages of pregnancy. However, her husband was overseas on a business trip! It was clear: Xavier had cheated on me! He and Sandra later claimed that I was the driver... When Sandra's husband, Justin Lee, returned, he stabbed me over twenty times without giving me a chance to explain. In my final moments, I reached for Xavier and grabbed his shirt, but he pushed my hand away in disgust, saying, "Since she caused the death of your baby, she deserves it. An eye for an eye, a life for a life." I would never forget that betrayal, that despicable look on his face! I could still feel the pain in my body! I refused to make the same mistakes again. As Xavier started to speak again, I interjected, "What's that? Your new coworker lives nearby? That's great! You can commute to work together!""I was just about to discuss that with you," he said, eyes wide with excitement. "You know we always have to work overtime at the company. She's a woman, so it's dangerous for her to take public transport alone at night. Her husband is often away, so as her senior at the company, I should give her a ride." I replied with a smirk, "Why don't you stay at her place to take care of her too while her husband is away?" Xavier chuckled. "What are you talking about? I'm not that kind of person." He reached for me, but I stepped back, repulsed by the man whom I had dated for five years and married for two. "Are you jealous?" he asked, frowning. "Hey, even though I'm a fine and good-looking man, I assure you, my heart belongs only to you." I stared at him expressionlessly. After a moment, I replied flatly, "Okay." In my previous life, Xavier's betrayal had led to my tragic end. This time, I would not make the same mistakes. Rather than getting into a fight with him again, I decided to let him have his way for now. I would make both him and Sandra pay later!

Chapter 2 Chapter 2

The next morning, I waited downstairs early. When Xavier walked over with Sandra, he was startled to see me. He quickly handed the coffee in his hand back to her. "Lily? What are you doing here? Why haven't you left for work?" I replied with a smile, "Don't you know my school is near your company? Or have you never thought about giving me a ride too?" Xavier opened his mouth but couldn’t find the words. Sandra's smiling face turned stiff. She spoke in a pretentious tone, "Is this your wife, Xavier? She's so beautiful—unlike me; I don't know how to dress up." In my previous life, I had little interaction with Sandra. I now know that she's actually such a pretentious woman. I replied coolly, "Beauty doesn't matter. Some men simply prefer the ugly women outside." Xavier caught my underlying message. He lowered his voice, explaining, "This is Sandra, my new coworker. She lives in the building next to ours..." I wasn’t interested, so I opened the back door and got in the car. Sandra stood by the door, looking befuddled. "Xavier, this..." Xavier patted her shoulder and opened the passenger door for her. "Lily must be worried that you would get carsick because you look so frail." I closed my eyes to rest, while the pretentious woman knew better than to speak. The atmosphere in the car grew tense. After a while, I broke the silence, "Is the car comfortable, Sandra?" Sandra was taken aback, "Huh?" I continued, "You’ll be riding the car every day from now on. If it's uncomfortable, you can ask Xavier to change the car." Sandra blushed. Xavier quickly spoke up for her, "Lily, don’t be so mean. Sandra is very innocent. She doesn’t understand what you're saying." I sneered and discreetly installed a pinhole camera at the back of the front seat. "Is that so? Good to know." When we arrived at the school, Xavier surprisingly opened the car door for me. As I stepped out, he asked sternly, "Lily, what are you doing? I'm just giving my coworker a ride. Do you really have to say those things?" I chuckled at his question. "What am I doing? I want to annoy both of you. Seeing your reaction makes me happy!" I thought that was the end of it, but the next morning, my phone was flooded with messages. Confused, I opened Whatsapp to find friends and coworkers texting me: "Lily, is this woman Xavier's coworker, the one that you mentioned?" I opened the screenshot my friend sent, showing Sandra's Twitter post. In the picture, she looked teary-eyed and pitiful. The caption read: "This is the first time something like this has ever happened to me. I don't know what to do. I was just hitching a ride; I didn't expect..." She exaggerated the car incident. I searched for her Twitter page, opened the post and scrolled through the comments. As expected, most of the comments were criticizing me: "Why can't the guy give you a ride? You live in the same neighborhood and work at the same company.""Your coworker is a good person, but his wife is so insecure!""Our Sandra is beautiful, so it’s dangerous for her to take public transport at night! Women should always help each other out!" I almost laughed at the moral outrage. I replied anonymously, "I see that you're from the city of Jovialle too. Why not ask your husband to drive her to work instead?" The commenter quickly replied, "Who are you? Why should my husband give her a ride? It's my husband, not her husband!" Typical double standards from the people online. As I continued to amuse myself replying to the comments, Xavier returned home. I glanced at the clock; it was already past ten in the evening. He took a look at the dining table, then at me lounging on the couch. He was visibly displeased. "Why didn’t you leave me any food for dinner?" Without looking up, I replied, "Haven't you eaten already?" His brow furrowed as he spoke slowly, "I just got home from working overtime, and this is how you treat me?"

Chapter 3 Chapter 3

In my past life, I had devoted myself to him, living like a maid at home. But now, I had changed. I shrugged. "Working overtime? Did you work overtime at the Jovialle Food Street?" Panic momentarily flickered in his eyes. "What are you talking about?" I pulled out my phone and opened the car's GPS record. "Have you forgotten that I'm the car's owner? I know where it's been." After a pause, I added, "I was on the balcony earlier. I saw you come home with Sandra." He adjusted his tie and said, "We're tired from working late, so we grabbed a snack. What about it?" I couldn’t help but sneer at his ridiculous defense. "If you still want to eat, tell Sandra to cook for you; she seems good at making things up. "Also, next time you "grab a snack", make sure you wipe your mouth clean before coming home—it stinks." His panic gave me satisfaction. Xavier was skilled at lying; in my past life, I had easily fallen for his lies. "What’s wrong with grabbing a snack after working late? Stop being unreasonable, Lily." He was still trying to defend himself, but his tone had softened. Ignoring his act, I turned off the phone screen and headed straight for the bedroom. As I passed him, I paused and said, "By the way, I've moved all your stuff to the guest room. You can sleep there from now on." Xavier stared at me in disbelief. He ran to the guest room to check. "Are you out of your mind, Lily?!" He rushed to me and grabbed my wrist. With gritted teeth, he said, "I'm quickly running out of patience with you!" I laughed coldly as I shook off his hand. Then, I gave him a hard slap on the face. Xavier was shocked. I could see disbelief and fury in his eyes. I withdrew my hand slowly and spoke coldly, "I've already run out of patience with you, Xavier, so get out of my face!" After a tense moment, Xavier chuckled mockingly. "Lily, look at yourself—you're behaving like a resentful woman!" I took a deep breath to suppress my anger and sadness. "You're right. I shouldn't waste my time on scum like you. Let's just get a divorce!" "Divorce?" He found it amusing, his tone dripping with disdain. "Are you sure, Lily? What do you have to gain from a divorce? Do you really think you can find a better man than me?" I looked at him coldly with a sarcastic smile on my face. "You're just a nobody, Xavier. Even if all the other men in the world were dead, I wouldn’t look at you twice!" With a bang, I slammed the door on his hypocritical face. For seven years, I had devoted my life to him like a fool, only to be told I was behaving like a resentful woman. Just giving her a ride? They had probably already hooked up. In the following days, I obsessively gathered evidence of Xavier and Sandra's affair like a madwoman. On the night of Thanksgiving, I sat in the empty living room. Gazing at the bright moon outside, I felt an overwhelming emptiness inside. In my past life, I remembered Xavier telling me on this day, "Sandra's husband is away on a business trip, and she has no other family in Jovialle. I think I'll go give her some of the turkey you made. I'm her team leader, so I should look out for her." But in this life, he didn’t even offer an explanation as he rushed out. The glow from my phone illuminated my miserable state. The screen was displaying a glaring post on Sandra's Twitter. In the photo, a diamond necklace sparkled under the lights as Sandra touched it with unconcealed joy. I had seen the ring on her finger before – I saw it when I moved Xavier's stuff to the guest room. [I'm yours for the rest of my life, my love.] How laughable. Sandra had both men wrapped around her finger. When Xavier still wasn't home late into the night, I realized he had no intention of coming back that night. So, I pulled up the homeowners' group chat of our neighborhood on my phone. I wrote a message, attached a video, and clicked send. Sandra loved getting attention on the internet, right? This time, I would make sure she got all the attention she wanted!